Eight months after he was arrested and taken into custody, former First National Bank financial adviser Clynton Cotton pleaded guilty this week to fraud and money laundering involving more than R12-million.
Duped FNB clients who entrusted their money to Cotton can rest easy as the bank is reimbursing them.
Cotton, his wife Lisa and secretary Omakanthi "Tammy" Govender were arrested in August 2007. Lisa was released on R100 000 bail and Govender on R5 000.
This week charges against Govender were withdrawn at the Commercial Crimes Court.
'She was sentenced to a fine of R50 000 or three years' imprisonment' Cotton, 40, remained in custody and went through a lengthy bail application hearing until negotiations between his legal counsel, Jimmy Howse, and the state prosecutor, Ashika Haripersad, reached finality. The state opposed his bail, saying Cotton had fleeced more than 100 investors over eight years.
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On Wednesday he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, five of them suspended. In his plea, Cotton said he enjoyed a successful career which led to his being head-hunted by FNB in 1997, but soon after joining the bank he battled to make ends meet.
He was transferred to the Overport branch, but his situation did not improve. He divorced his first wife, then met and married Lisa.
He set up two businesses, Board of Associates (BOA) and later Securities Endowment Training (SET) and, because of his poor credit record, Lisa was the signatory for both. He also opened a bank account in SET's name and Lisa and her father were signatories.
Cotton said in 2000 he started converting money he received from investors for his own use. He received money from clients and deposited the funds into either the BOA or SET accounts on the understanding that he would invest with a reputable financial institution.
He also admitted instructing Lisa to transfer the funds, more than R12-million, out of the BOA and SET accounts.
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